GLOCAL Dissertation Topics

Pathway A (Glasgow-Barcelona-Rotterdam)

• Marginalisation, Poverty and Creative Cities: Arts, Science, Innovation and Urban Development
• Creative Industries in Emerging Countries: balancing economic growth and inequality
• Changing dynamics of the design economy Netherlands since the 1980s
• The Knit of a Nation? How Irishness was marketed to the world by the Aran sweater (1950-1980). Supervised by Professor Ben Wubs
• Can Culture Regenerate? A Comparative Study of Glasgow, Rotterdam and Liverpool as European Capitals of Culture. Supervised by Paul van de Laar
• A comparative study of creative city networks and their local dynamics. Supervised by Dr. Jeroen Euwe
• Multiculturalism: A Cause or Means to Gentrification
• Musiconomics : How Sweden’s global music factory works
• Markets and Superdiversity: A case study of Rotterdam
• Work of people and the role of space in it: a research study of preferred spatial characteristics in a coworking space. Supervised by Dr. Jeroen Euwe
• El Centinela Borinqueño: Working for the U.S. Army at Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico. Supervised by Dr. Dario Fazzi 
• Configuring Appropriate Support: The Problematic Internationalization Strategy of the Japanese Manga and Anime Industry. Supervised by Professor Ben Wubs

Pathway B: (Glasgow-Barcelona-Göttingen)

• Importing entrepreneurial spirit? Return migrant entrepreneurship in Lithuania, 1990-2018. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• European Integration: Greek Trade Unions’ Perspectives and Responses, 1980-2010. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• A Comparative Analysis between the Pakistani Female Immigrant Entrepreneurs working in London and Manchester. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• Management of Political Risks and Uncertainty by Indian-Zambian Entrepreneurs, 1945 – 2019. Supervised by Jun-Prof. Dr. Heike Wieters
• Social-environmental conflict in La Gomera: the case study of the water bottling plant of Taguluche 1998-2015. Supervised by Jun-Prof. Dr. Heike Wieters
• Bangladeshi Immigrant entrepreneurs of London and Luton. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• Public-Private-Partnerships for Peacebuilding. The Case of Meta in Colombia. Supervised by Jun-Prof. Dr. Heike Wieters
• The Role of Uncertainty Avoidance and Success Targets in Berlin’s Startups. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Fabian Froese
• Creative Industries in Ukraine: From Indifference to Enthusiasm. Supervised by Dr. Robert Bernsee
• Medellín’s transformation into a `Creative City´? From drug and gang violence to innovation districts and library parks, urban policy initiatives 1990 – 2018. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• The Fashion Question: Feminism in Vogue, 1960-1980 – An Image and Discourse Analysis. Supervised by Jun-Prof. Dr. Heike Wieters
• Mercosur and Trade Liberalization in Latin America: The Effects of Regional Economic Integration in the Automotive Industry, 1990s to Today. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• Turkish Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Germany and the Netherlands. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• The Pink Tide and the City: A study of São Paulo’s urban planning policies under the government of Fernando Haddad (2013-2016). Supervised by Jun-Prof. Dr. Heike Wieters
• Open Higher Education for Refugees through Digital Solutions. Supervised by Jun-Prof. Dr. Heike Wieters
• Extractive Industry and Child Labour – a case study on Madagascar. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Vollmer
• Road from Damascus: Investigating Syrian Newcomer Entrepreneurship in Germany since the 2015 Refugee Crisis. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• Female Entrepreneurship in Cambodia – Its Struggles and Potentials. Supervised by Jun-Prof. Dr. Heike Wieters

Pathway A (Glasgow-Barcelona-Rotterdam)

• Decoding Heritage & Luxury Branding for Premium Fashion Brands: From Starting a Business to Building an Empire. Supervised by Professor Ben Wubs
• Living Rooms for the City: LocHal Tilburg and V&A Dundee, Small City Regeneration in Historical Perspective, 1990-Present. Supervised by Els Jacobs
• Self/Other’s Delftware: An Analysis of Blue and White Ceramics and their collecting in England and the Netherlands in the Nineteenth Century (1868–1901). Supervised by Dr. Liesbeth Rosen Jacobson
• Entrepreneurship as lived experience. The voices of female business-owners of Bulgarian origin in London. Supervised by Dr. Sandra Khor Manickam
• Can creative economy drive economic growth in the Global South?
• Recalibrating city branding to Social Cohesion. Supervised by Paul van der Laar
• Following the Product: Traceability of Geographical Association and Supply Chain Processes in Luxury Fashion. Supervised by Dr. Jeroen Euwe
• Harnessing a knowledge economy: EU discourse on higher education from 1993-2010, and its impact on migration of Erasmus Mundus international students. Supervised by Mark Straver
• Why HipHopHuis Matters? A critical inquiry into identity, space and superdiversity in Rotterdam. Supervised by Maarten van Dijck
• International sea transports in relation with post-colonial development in West Africa (coastal countries) 1960-2000.
• Making It: Resiliency of Creative Agencies in the Digital, Glocal Economy
• Port City Festivals. Their Role and Impact
• Uncertainties Through Time: Career Trajectories of Fashion Photographers. Supervised by Maarten van Dijck
• Of Other Contexts: A very Brazilian LGBTQ+ Urban Geography. Supervised by Dr. Sandra Khor Manickam
• Small Venues as Networking Nodes: Live Music in the Context of Creative City Development. Supervised by Dr. Jeroen Euwe
• The development and the culture orientated national strategy – the case of  South Korean entertainment industry
• The role of London Fashion Week Men’s in the development of the menswear fashion industry. Supervised by Ben Wubs
• The ordinary city as a stage for culture, creativity & social inclusion: A study of the social circus in Brazil & Latin America in the first decades of the 21st century. Supervised by Maarten van Dijck
• The transform of hospitality industry in the Netherlands from 1997 onward: A case study on Booking.com
• Whose Waste is it anyway?

Pathway B: (Glasgow-Barcelona-Göttingen)

• Whose City? Transformation of Public Space in Post-Socialist Kyiv since 1991. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• Internationalization of German hidden champions: A case study of Magura from the 1960s onwards. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• The Impact of Fintech in Encouraging People to Save By Incorporating Behavioural Economics: Review on Empirical Evidence. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Marcela Ibanez
• Central Banks and Climate Change: Legitimisation for Green Intervention. Supervised by Dr. Alexander Engel
• Diverging Tracks? An analysis of Scotland’s and the UK’s Rail Politics and Policies since Rail Privatization. Supervised by Dr. Stefan Hördler
• Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Mexico Historical Analysis of High-Skilled Migration Policies in Mexico. Supervised by Dr. Bruno Witzel
• Westernization and De-westernization in Beauty Industry in China. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• Industrial Democracy in Conversion Processes: a case study of the German industrial trade union IG Metall 09/2015-06/2020. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Ravi Ahuja
• The Evolution of Social Enterprises in Germany: Analyzing Social innovations after the European Refugee Crisis. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Kilian Bizer
• Creativity in Urban Revival: Revitalization of Abandoned Spaces through Community Art Practices. Supervised by Dr. Robert Bernsee
• Modern-day Travel Industry in Thailand: The Implementation of Persuasive Techniques on OTAs Websites. Supervised by Dr. Robert Bernsee
• Local Responses to a Global Crisis: Examining Civil Society Initiatives for Refugees as part of Germany’s Welcome Culture since 2015. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• Transitioning Human Capabilities: Comparative analysis of the quality of life in post-Soviet Russia. Supervised by Dr. Bruno Witzel
• Complementary Currencies as an Instrument of Local Economic Development: Comparative Analysis of Top-Down, Bottom-Up and Mixed Initiatives in Catalonia. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Kilian Bizer
• Dual Pressures of Pakistan’s Political Economy & Global Garment Value Chains on Industrial Labor. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Ravi Ahuja
• Digital Disruption in Thai Retail Advertising Strategy: The Case of Disruption from Glocalization to Platform Economy. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• The Geography of Coffee Consumption: Urban Transformation and the Spatial Distribution of Specialty Coffee Shops n Barcelona. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• Gentrification in a Tourist City: Exploring Residential Segregation in Barcelona. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• Real Scots’ Sustainable Land: the environmental impact of post-2003 community land reforms on agricultural land management. Supervised by Dr. Bruno Witzel
• The Route to ECO-CITY: the development of sustainable urban mobility in Colombia, 1990-2010
• The Growth of Latin Music in Global Markets. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• From Community to Commodification: Work, Environmental and community Relations in Grangemouth from 2000 to the present. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Ravi Ahuja
• Interests and Power during Negotiations between Arbed Steel, Maxhütte Unterwellenborn and Treuhandanstalt, 1989-1992. Supervised by Dr. Stefan Hördler
• Development, Segregation, and Community Activism: A Case Study of the Development of Baltimore’s “Black Butterfly”. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• The Booking Fee & Competition of Online Accommodation Platforms in Europe. Supervised by Dr. Alexia Gaudeul
• Central Banks, Financial Literacy and Household Empowerment: A Feasibility Analysis of Implementing Financial Education in Brazilian Schools. Supervised by Dr. Bruno Witzel
• Northern Sea Route: The Shortest Maritime Path between Europe and East Asia. The Murmansk Case. Supervised by Dr. Bruno Witzel

Pathway A: (Glasgow-Barcelona-Rotterdam)

• Instagrammable cafes and their impact in Oude Noorden and Middelland in Rotterdam (2000-2021)
• The fusion of technology and creativity: A qualitative study on the gender balance in the fashion trend forecasting industry. Supervised by Professor Ben Wubs
• A Pandemic and a Battle for Equality: The 1918 Influenza and its influence on the conditions that gave rise to the ensuing struggle for racial equality during the Red Summer Riots of 1919 in the United States. Supervised by Dr. Sandra Khor Manickam
• Carnival as a contested space: Social tensions at Recife’s and Rotterdam’s Carnival (2001-2020). Supervised by Maarten van Dijck
• Can cultural and creative industries drive innovation? Cultural practice and innovation labs in Barcelona. Supervised by Dr. Jeroen Euwe
• Commercialization of Street Art and Rewriting Rotterdam’s urban image (1980-2020)
• Towards Gender Equality: The Role of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in the Development of Female Tech Entrepreneurship in Amsterdam. Supervised by Yuri van Hoef
• The interwar period: a golden age for professional women in the fashion industry in Shanghai, China
• Changes in China-Hong Kong historical and political relationship: the impacts of Hong Kong’s tourism policies and industry on this relationship
• Transparency and Traceability: Mechanisms in the Dutch Sustainable Agriculture System: An Exploratory Study into Ecolabelling, Blockchain, and a Fair Model (2000-2020)
• Multilingualism and Inclusion: An Explorative Study of Virtual Linguistic Landscape in Tokyo
• From the grassroots: Festival de la Chicha, El Maiz, La Vida y La Dicha, between enjoyment and resistance. Supervised by Dick Douwes
• The impacts of ecotourism on environmental conservation and rural development: a study of “El Camino de Costa Rica”. Supervised by Dr. Jeroen Euwe
• Connected Transoceanic Histories of Printed Cottons The Metamorphosis from Kalamkari to Sits
• Legal Practice in the Age of Disruptive Innovation: The Impact of Technologies on the Dutch Legal Market
• Vintage Clothing Retail Business Models in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Supervised by Paul van de Laar

Pathway B: (Glasgow-Barcelona-Göttingen)

• Socio-political structures in Kazakhstan: The role of cultural features and informal institutions. Supervised by Dr. Robert Bernsee
• Perspectives on Plagwitz: Neighborhood revival and the fostering of creative industries in Leipzig’s West, 2000-present. Supervised by Dr. Robert Bernsee
• Saving and Consolidating the Central German Chemical Triangle between 1990 and 2005. Supervised by Dr. Stefan Hördler
• Energy Transition in Mexico: Wind Power Challenges in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. Supervised by Dr. Bruno Witzel
• Impact of Chinese overseas lending on regional development banks’ portfolio and strategy: the case of the Interamerican Development Bank. Supervised by Dr. Bruno Witzel
• Development of Green Hydrogen in Magallanes Region in Chile: Becoming a World Green Energy Supplier? Supervised by Dr. Bruno Witzel
• Resilience of Paraguayan Small Business in Periods of Crisis: Business Ecosystem, Structural Challenges, and Public Policies, 1990s – 2020. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• Making Sense of Creative Cities and Urban Development: A Study of Philippine Creative Cities. Supervised by Dr. Robert Bernsee
• The Entrepreneurial Experience of Minorities in the United States: Government Support for Minority-Owned Businesses, from 1965 to Present. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• How Digital Platforms Ecosystem is disrupting the global economy through Digital Transformation and Digital Innovation. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Manuel Trenz
• Digital Innovation Management in SME’s: Enhancing the Customer Experience through SMACIT Technologies. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Jan Muntermann
• Actors and decision-making processes of Dutch energy policy: Fossil fuel choices in the 1970s and 1980s. Supervised by Dr. Stefan Hördler
• The Cultural and Creative Industry in Switzerland. Perception versus Reality – The current state of academia and the reality of CCI in Basel. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Kilian Bizer
• Rising to the Challenge of Cross-Sector Marketing? How German NGOs Are Partnering with Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• Global Markets, Local Advertising: A Comparison of “Influencers” in 1930s and 2010s China. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• Following the U.S.-American Model? The Emergence of Online-Retailing in Mexico since the 1990s. Supervised by PD Dr. Jan Logemann
• Fintech in Action: Marketplace Business Lending and the Financial Inclusion of British SMEs through Enhanced Credit Access (2010-2020). Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff
• British Family MNEs in the Aftermath of the Brexit. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Berghoff

Collaborative Dissertations – What Are They?

There aren’t too many differences between a regular dissertation and a collaborative one so it shouldn’t be considered daunting or a challenge for both student and organisation if they wish to pursue it. The only key difference between a dissertation and collaborative one is that a collaborative dissertation involves an institution or organisation where a student would be undertaking a placement. The dissertation would be centred around a topic or a field of research which the organisation focuses on, with the materials, knowledge, resources, and expertise on the matter being accessible to the student as they work for the organisation.

A collaborative dissertation is effectively a unique opportunity to conduct research and learn from an organisation that specialises in that area in the process. For the GLOCAL programme, a collaborative dissertation in a work-based placement is optional. It is not a requirement of the course to do a dissertation in the collaborative format. However, it is accepted and encouraged if the student and organisation both feel that a question or topic of research can be pursued through working together. Overall, a collaborative dissertation is simply a piece of research where the topic has been guided by agreement between the placement institution and student.

Student Experiences

Looking back to my Master’s years, applying for a collaborative dissertation was among the best decisions I’ve taken. I was curious about Positive Money, a London-based, research and campaign NGO, because I wanted to write about sustainable finance, which is also one of the major focus of their work. So when I received an email from University of Glasgow listing a bunch of options for collaboration I knew it would have been them. Working on the topic of green central banking has been an opportunity to explore an area of research I knew very little about and discover that I’m really interested in it. Plus, the guidance and support I received was very valuable, and exchanging with them gave me extra motivation to go through the thesis process. The whole experience inspired me to consider new options in terms of career paths to pursue, and I am currently continuing along this track on an internship with their sister organization Positive Money Europe.

Adua Dalla Costa, Cohort 2, Track B, Global Markets & Development

I am pursuing a collaborative dissertation through an internship at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), an international non-profit research and policy organisation working with environment and development challenges. I will join SEI’s team working in the Viable Cities’ Finance project, which examines how financial actors and cities can best collaborate to finance the achievement of the sustainability-related goals of Swedish cities. In this context, my research is about assessing the social impacts of the transition towards climate neutrality in Swedish municipalities. I found this opportunity at SEI’s website while looking for an organisation to collaborate with while producing my dissertation. They were looking for master’s students interested in doing research related to some of their projects, so it was a perfect match for me.

Daniel D’Elia da Costa, Cohort 5, Track G, Sustainability: Institutions & Management